New on DVD

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

20th Century Fox, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.98

Jeff Kinney’s popular kid lit novel “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” makes a smooth transition to the big screen, thanks to director Thor Freudenthal, a team of writers and a game young cast who work together to capture the whimsical tone of Kinney’s book. Zachary Gordon plays an 11-year-old navigating the hazards of middle school and trying way too hard to engineer a rise in popularity. The movie overemphasizes the gross-out humor at times, but it’s suitably witty and rivals John Hughes in its understanding of how status preoccupies adolescents. The DVD and Blu-ray adds a Freudenthal commentary and a set of deleted scenes, the latter of which should appeal especially to fans of the book.

The Ghost Writer

Summit, $26.99; Blu-ray, $40.99

Amid all the controversy surrounding Roman Polanski’s legal status, the director reminded people why he’s famous with this spry political thriller based on a Robert Harris novel. Ewan McGregor plays a writer helping out with the memoirs of a scandal-plagued former British prime minister (played by Pierce Brosnan). When the writer gets closer to the truth about his employer, his life is endangered in a twisty plot that suits Polanski’s usual theme of how one overmatched individual holds up against a conspiracy. The DVD and Blu-ray include three featurettes, including one that explores the story’s real-life parallels.

Kick-Ass

Lionsgate, $29.95; Blu-ray, $39.99

An average, nerdy teen takes a crack at superheroism in “Kick-Ass,” a vulgar action- comedy that aims to ridicule the absurdities of the superhero genre by imagining how they’d play in the real world. The problem is that writer-director Matthew Vaughn — working from a comic book written by Mark Millar — stages the movie more like typical outsized action fare. “Kick-Ass” features a few funny moments and some winning performances by Nicolas Cage as the proud father of a foul-mouthed preteen heroine and Christopher Mintz-Plasse as the well-financed son of a mob boss, but it’s as much an example of what it’s mocking as a subversion of the genre. The DVD and Blu-ray are well-stocked though, with a Vaughn commentary track and a trio of informative featurettes.

A Prophet

Sony, $27.96; Blu-ray, $28.96

Writer-director Jacques Audiard gives a conventional prison drama some Gallic flavor in “A Prophet,” the sprawling story of a meek Muslim kid (played by Tahar Rahim) who gets busted for a minor offense and has a meteoric rise to power behind bars, working first with and then against the Corsican mob. This kind of “king of the crooks” tale has been told many times before, but Audiard’s attention to detail makes a huge difference, whether he’s exploring the racial tensions among the French immigrant underclass or emphasizing the importance of a fresh baguette. The DVD and Blu-ray adds a commentary (in French) by Audiard, Rahim and co-screenwriter Thomas Bidegain, along with deleted scenes, rehearsal footage and screen tests.

And...

“After.Life” (Starz/Anchor Bay, $29.98; Blu-ray, $34.98); “The Breakfast Club” (Universal Blu-ray, $26.98); “Eclipse Series 23: The First Films of Akira Kurosawa (Sanshiro Sugata/The Most Beautiful/The Men Who Tread on The Tiger’s Tail)” (Criterion, $59.95)

calendar@latimes.com